In recent years, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of indoor sports facilities in connection with the sports of both tennis and racquet ball. As a result, there has been a tremendous increase in a variety of accouterments and attachments incident to the playing of both of these games which are intended to aid the players in one form or another.
As has been known in connection with various other sports games such as golf, baseball and the like, it is deemed to be desirable to have exercising and training aids which permit the players to strengthen the appropriate muscles which are utilized in the playing of the game. In this connection, the use of weights intended for attachment to the appropriate sports equipment has been well known. For example, a variety of weighted attachments are provided for interconnection to a baseball bat to permit the player to swing a weighted bat prior to actually commencing the playing of the game. Exemplary of this type of device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,559 which is directed to a circular weighted doughnut intended for insertion around the ball bat such that as the player continually swings the bat, the arm and shoulder muscles are exercised and toned in a manner which will improve the player's ability to swing the bat once the weight is removed. Similar devices are shown in connection with golf clubs as for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,239, which shows a doughnut shaped weight attachment intended to attach to the base of the club immediately adjacent to the club head. Once again, the intent of the device is for use as a warm up weight to permit the player to familiarize himself with the swing of the club and also to exercise and tone the appropriate muscles such that when he uses the club without the weight, the club will feel lighter, the muscles will be better toned, and overall better swing is achieved.
Another form of a weighted device for a golf club is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,608,409 which again, is intended as a warm up device.
As indicated previously, with the tremendous increase in indoor tennis and racquetball facilities, there has been a desire on the part of the consuming public for similar types of devices intended for attachment to both tennis and racquetball equipment. However, the weighted devices intended for interconnection with the head rims of both tennis racquets and racquetball racquets have not been particularly convenient for the reason that often times, the intended weight devices require substantial change to the configuration of the racquet. One attempt has been made to develop a simplified tennis racquet weight and this is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,893. As shown therein, the weighted device is intended to be wrapped around a portion of the handle of the tennis racquet and basically includes a sheet of material incorporating Velcro-type fasteners as the locking means and further including weights formed of either steel balls or rods which are wrapped in the material lockingly engaged in the handle. Hence, while a device of this type does function to add weight to the racquet, it is believed that as a training and exercise device, it does not achieve the desired end since the weights are not located on the head of the racquet, but rather, are located on the handle portion.
A fairly recent attempt at developing a weighted system for the head rim of a tennis or racquetball racquet is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,907,292. As shown therein, the weight system consists of providing a plurality of weighted balls which are positioned internally within the head rim of the racquet, and held in position by a compressed spring. However, it is fairly obvious that to employ such a weighted system requires that the head rim of the racquet be cored appropriately and that the balls be inserted with the spring. Quite obviously, such a system is cumbersome, and more importantly, requires that the racquet construction be entirely different than the solid wood, metal or plastic racquets currently being manufactured. Hence, it is unlikely that a weighted system of this type would ever be commercially utilized.
Similarly, other types of weighting systems developed for tennis racquets or racquetball racquets have not achieved any degree of commercial success for the reason that they tend to be cumbersome devices and not quickly amenable to be used by the consumer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,260 shows an adjustable weight exerciser for use on a tennis racquet which basically relates to a weight which is stretched across the rim portion of the racquet. Clearly, to utilize such a system, a strung racquet could not be employed since the stringing would definitely interfere with the positioning of the weight.
For the above reasons, it has been deemed desirable to develop a weight system for use on either tennis racquets or racquetball racquets which permits ease of installation and removal, while nevertheless performing a weighting function for purposes of exercise and training.